Archive
Business Strategy
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What IT Integration Decides in an M&A Deal
Most IT integration failures in mid-market deals are not technical failures. They are underwriting failures. The diligence team priced a thesis that assumed two companies could…
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What M&A Integration Consulting Buys a PE Deal Partner
M&A integration consulting is worth its fee only when it moves the numbers the deal was underwritten on: cross-sell revenue, procurement savings, a consolidated technology stack…
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What a PE Deal Partner Needs From a Consultant, and How to Judge One
Deal partners, operating partners and portfolio CFOs buy different things from a consultant. What each one needs to decide, and how to judge whether the person…
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Data Analytics for Portfolio Companies: Why the Sponsor Never Gets a Number They Trust
Verdict up front: A portfolio company closes eight months ago with clean financial reporting and a well-instrumented CRM. The sponsor asks for the monthly pipeline number.…
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What a Roll-Up’s Website Consolidation Buys You
Most website consolidation projects in a roll-up get approved for the wrong reason and killed for the wrong reason. They get approved because the estate looks…
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Merger Integration Planning: The Decisions a PE Deal Partner Owns
Most integration plans I have reviewed fail before the first 100 days start. Not because the operating team is weak, and not because the synergy model…
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Software Due Diligence for Private Equity: The Findings That Move a Purchase Price
You are three weeks from signing, the seller’s tech stack is the thesis, and the CTO handed you a 40-page report color-coded by severity. None of…
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When to hire a fractional CTO for a portfolio company (and when it is the wrong hire)
Short answer. A portfolio company needs a fractional CTO when it has technology decisions that move the value creation plan and nobody senior enough to make…